Clovis native pleads guilty in accusation of theft

GALLUP — A Clovis native and former Miyamura High School head football coach entered a guilty plea this month in connection to an accusation he stole from one of his players.

John Roanhaus, 42, reached a plea agreement Feb. 13 to larceny of $250 or less in McKinley Magistrate Court. A charge of non-residential burglary was dismissed.

Roanhaus, the son of former Clovis football coach Eric Roanhaus, was ordered to serve 90 days supervised probation, repay $40 to the victim and pay $73 in court costs. The repayment to the student was confirmed in a Thursday filing on the case.

According to court documents, Roanhaus, then the head coach at Miyamura, was recorded Oct. 2 opening a player’s locker and stealing $40 from that player’s wallet. The recording device was set up based on the reporting party’s allegations the theft was not an isolated incident.

He was terminated as the Patriots coach soon after his October arrest.

No listed number was available for Roanhaus, whose court records include listed addresses in Gallup and Las Vegas, N.M. A message sent to his attorneys was not immediately returned.